The Positive Side Of Things
by HermioneM
Summary: The angst the war brings, may bring two lonely and scared hearts together. R/R, please.


I remember my mom saying always to see the best of things.

I tried to follow her advice as best as I could through all my life. But it isn't that easy. 

The world is breaking apart around me, and I'm with it. 

My whole life has broken, leaving the shatter pieces for me to pick them up, trying to find a shape for my broken heart. Something to fit, somewhere to belong.

And now is when I long for that naivete that I had before I came here. 

But if I'm to see the best of things, I have to start by appreciating what I've got. And something that I'll never regret, never forget. It doesn't matter if I die tomorrow, which more likely I will, because I met them... I met him. 

Even if he doesn't know how I feel, even if he doesn't feel the same, it doesn't matter. Because I had the honor to get him in my life. I got to be friends with him; and nothing, not the constant fights, all the differences between us, nothing at all, has put us apart. 

We are a team, the three of us. The Invincible Trio, they call us. Harry, Ron and me. Always together, standing next to each other every time one of us needs a friendly face or a shoulder to cry on. We know that we'll always be friends, that we'll always be there for each other. 

And this hell of a war has not yet drifted us apart. If something, it has only succeeded on making us closer. 

We lived our lives together. Grew up together. We arrived Hogwarts as kids, and now we are teenagers. Seventeen. But we don't feel like it. With all the stuff going on, we found ourselves obligated to grow up more quickly than we should have. 

Instead of having fun, hanging around, flirting and hooking up as regular teens, we have been learning powerful spells that we shouldn't be learning until leaving Hogwarts. We have been training for the battle. We have been taught healing potions, and spells. And harder than all, we have been taught to say his name, not to fear a name, but the person itself. To say the word. Voldemort. The responsible for all of this tension and fear, the one that caused all the wizard community to fall apart. He who keeps me from telling my best friend how I really feel about him. 

We have been taught not to fear the name, but they can't teach us not to be afraid of him, when Dumbledore himself is scared. 

Sometimes I just want to forget that there's a war out there. Sometimes, when I look into his beautiful blue eyes, and his childish grin, I just want to hold him near and tell him how I really feel. But how shallow is that? How selfish can I be? Just wanting to be with him, when Harry Potter, the best friend one could ask, is in death danger. When the Dark Lord is after him, his only purpose wanting to take revenge on The Boy Who Lived. The boy whom as a baby took all his power away. Harry Potter, maybe the only one able to defeat him. Maybe the only one -besides Dumbledore- that Voldemort fears. 

Poor Harry. Sometimes I pity him. He's just a kid. A seventeen-year-old boy who carries the fate of the world on his shoulders. Everyone is counting on him to save us. Everyone is hoping for him to defeat the Dark Lord, as he once did. But now there is no Lily Potters there to save him. No caring mother who is willing to give her life in order to her son live. 

But there are his friends. Ron and I. We are willing to die for him. Because he _is_ The Boy Who Lived. And he will always be. It's his fate, his destiny. He was born to live, to survive. And maybe I don't want to die. And I certainly don't want Ron to die. But we will, if it means that Harry will live, and save the world. 

Well, I don't think it's fair for any of us. We shouldn't be carrying this weight when we are so young. We shouldn't be able to handle things so well as we are. We shouldn't worry about not knowing if tomorrow we'll receive and owl with the most dreaded news: that our families have died. 

The sky is red. Blood red. I know what it means. It means that the war is coming closer. It is reaching us. We will have to fight. We can't stop it anymore. 

But I don't want to die. I want to live. I want Harry to live. And Ron. And my parents. And everyone. 

I'm scared as hell. But I mustn't show it. I must remain calm, ready. I cannot loose it right now, I can't freak out when I need my common-sense the most. When lives might depend on it. But I know he can tell. He knows I am not fine, I am not okay. I'm broken.

I know all of the eyes are set on us: The Invincible Trio. Mostly on Harry. We have always saved the day. Harry has always risked his life for us, for Dumbledore, for Hogwarts. Ron is finally getting the attention he longed for so much... and he doesn't want it anymore. 

But that is the price we have to pay for being friends with Harry Potter. And honestly, I don't care. If I must die, at least I will die fighting side by side with Harry Potter. And if I shall die, then so be it. Just that... I don't want to die.

"Hermione," I hear someone whispering behind me. 

"Ron."

He sits besides me. "What are you doing up? It's 3 o'clock in the morning."

"I could ask you the same question."

"Yeah..."

We sit in silence for a moment. It feels so right. We can spend the time without saying anything at all, just being ourselves. That deep is our friendship. 

"Ron," I say, not being able to hold it anymore, "I'm scared."

"What?" he asks, softly. 

"I'm scared. I dread what might happen. It scares the hell out of me that we might... that we..." I can't continue. A tear is rolling down my cheek. 

"Oh, Hermione. Don't think of it."

"How can I not think of it, when it gets more obvious every day? It's so painfully obvious, Ron! We can't pretend it's not going to happen, anymore. Ron I... I don't wanna die."

He looks at me sweetly. "You're not gonna die, Hermione. I won't let that happen."

I'm amazed. He's being so brave. Where is that childish and immature boy I once knew?

I feel suddenly his heavy arm on my shoulders. It's really comforting. I let my head rest on his shoulder. 

"I don't wanna loose you," I whisper. 

"You won't. No matter what happens, I will always be with you. Even if I die, I will never leave you."

"Promise?"

"Promise." He sits up, his blue eyes looking at my brown ones. "Listen to me, Hermione. It's going to be okay. We are going to be okay. Harry is going to be okay. We have Dumbledore in our side. Harry is The Boy Who Lived, and will be once again. We will live."

"Ron," I say, "you don't know that. It sounds beautiful, but it's just a dream. This war is the worst ever, and we will be in the front line. Ron, I know that we might die-"

"Hermione."

"-and I'm willing to do it if it's for you, or for Harry. But I wouldn't be able to live without you. If any of you die, I might die as well, because without Harry or you, I don't have anything."

"Hermione, don't talk like that. You have to live. For me. Because this world has no meaning if you're not in it. You understand me?"

"Ron, how can I live if you're not in my life?"

"If I die, Hermione, if I don't make it, and you do, you'll have to live. At least I have to know that, or I won't be able to rest in peace."

I am crying now. I feel so silly and so stupid crying in front of Ron, when he is showing this strength I didn't even know he possessed. But I can't help myself. There is just so many things. The war, my parents, Ron... everything always keeps coming back to those beautiful eyes and that flaming hair that hypnotizes me. 

He brushes my tears away with his thumb. Suddenly, something drowns in his face. I can't read it. It is such a sudden change. 

"Hermione, I have to tell you something," he says. He says it in such a serious tone that he scares me. "I have to. Because when the war reaches us, I might not have the chance. And I won't be able to die, or to live, or to even exist if you don't know this." He sighs. "Hermione Granger, I love you."

"What?" I whisper.

"I love you. I've been in love with you since forever, but never had the guts to tell you how I feel. This might not be the best time to say it, but I can't keep it any longer."

I feel myself smiling. This is the first time I've smiled sincerely for weeks. "Oh, Ron," I mutter. "I love you, too." I say, before pulling him to me, and kissing him. I feel him kissing me back. 

And for that moment we kiss, the world is perfect. There is no war, no death, no fear. And just in that moment, I know he is right. 

We are going to be okay. 

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A/N- Please review. 

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Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or its characters. I only own the plot. 


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